Penguin v3 - PGN Editor for Chess

Screenshots
Features
Requirements
Download
Merida Chess Font
Documentation
History
PGN Game Archives
GoRilla Game Editor
Support Me

Penguin is a PGN editor / reader and desktop board for the analysis and review of games of Chess.

Penguin is a freeware Windows program and is available [ download ] from this web page.

Use Penguin to store and replay your games and the games of the professionals. Penguin is a compact, non-commercial product that can stand alongside the existing editors and offer some original functionality. I hope that you will find it a useful product and that it will help you improve your skill at Chess.

August 2009 - New Release. Version 3 has been released. The enhancements include a database of openings to enable games to be classified by opening. Further development of the program is planned for the future.

( Product and web page by Dariusz Stachowski. )

Screenshots

( The Penguin window )	( Composing a Chess game )
( The bookmarks dialog )	( Documentation )
( The collection dialog )	( Opening statistics )

Penguin Features

Stored Games. Games can be stored on disk. Penguin supports two game formats: PGN and Penguin's own ECH format.

Collections. Many games can be held in a single game file. The collections dialog facilitates management of the games in a collection.

Branching. Many lines of play can be stored in a game.

Comments. Users are able to add comments to a game position. Users are able to search the game comments for a text string.

Bookmarks. Game positions can be bookmarked.

Opening Classifications Database. Games can be classified by opening.

Statistics. Opening and player statistics can be viewed for the games in the collection.

Printing. Games can be printed. The printout will include any text together with diagrams of selected positions of the game. Printing can be done either one or two columns down the page. Either the main line of play or all the branches may be printed.

Configuration. Users are able to set their preferences for colours, sizes and fonts.

GIF, BMP Image Generation. Game positions can be exported as GIF images or copied to the Windows clipboard as BMP images.

Compose. Users can set the pieces on the board in any starting state. Board positions can be modified.

Backup. Backups are taken by the program as a protection against game loss.

Irregular Moves. Irregular moves can be made.

System Requirements

Penguin is a Windows program. It was compiled on Windows XP and it should work under the Windows NT / XP group of operating systems ( Windows 95/NT/XP and later. )

Download

The download is one executable installation program file. To download the file hit the link below. Run the installation program and follow the on-screen prompts. The installation program unpacks all the Penguin files that are needed. Please read the ReadMe and Licence files that are included.

Setup_Penguin3.exe

Installation program for version 3 of Penguin ( 490 kB )

Important - Merida Chess Font

Please note that Penguin uses the Chess Merida font and it is essential that this font is installed on your PC. The Chess Merida TTF file ( 'merifont.ttf' ) is included with the Penguin setup executable and will be placed in the installation directory. You will need to manually install this font. From your desktop, navigate to the Windows Fonts directory ( My Computer | Control Panel | Fonts. ) Then install the Merida font ( File | Install New Font... and select the 'merifont.ttf' file from the installation directory. )

For more detailed assistance, visit Microsoft's article on font installation at [ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314960 ].

The Chess Merida font is used by the program to build up images of the board positions. One disadvantage with using a font in this way is that if your computer does not have anti-aliasing for the display then the board positions will look untidy. You might be able to succeed in configuring your graphics capabilities. From an XP computer you will be able to set font smoothing from the desktop Display Properties dialog.

Program Document

Program documentation is available as a compiled HTML Help module. It comes batched with the setup installation file and can be launched from the application ( hit shortcut F1 ). Please read the documentation. It describes in detail all the functionality that is available.

Program History

Version 3 August 2009	Openings. A database of openings has been included to facilitate classification of games. Statistics. Opening and player statistics can be viewed for the games in the collection. Comment. An improved comment control has been developed. FEN Notation. FEN text strings can be generated of game positions. Also a FEN text string may be imported into a board composition. Bookmarks. Bookmark orders are now retained.
Version 2 June 2009	PGN Format. Game files can be stored / imported / exported in the PGN format ( in addition to Penguin's own game format. ) Bookmarking. Positions can be bookmarked. A dialog facilitates management of the bookmarks. Documentation. Documentation is available as a compiled HTML Help module. Memory Utilisation. Improved memory management techniques have been built into the program to reduce memory usage. Faster Loading. Changes have been made to enable faster loading of large game files. Irregular Moves. Functionality to make irregular moves has been added. Layout, Options. Improved background options and dialog layout have been added. GIF Export. Improved options for GIF image export have been added.
Version 1 June 2008	This was the first public offering of the Penguin program.

PGN Archives of Chess Games

The following sites contain PGN archives of Chess games that can be downloaded and read by Penguin.

http://www.chess.com/downloads/database+of+games	Archives from many of the recent premier tournaments.
http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/	British chess game archive. Downloads available as zipped PGN files.
http://www.pgnmentor.com/files.html	PGN games categorised by player, opening, event.
http://www.supreme-chess.com/chess-game-collection-a.html	PGN games categorised by ECO.

The GoRilla Game Editor

A companion game editor, GoRilla, is available for the games of Go ( Weiqi, Baduk ), Connect6, Othello ( Reversi ), Hex, Unlur, Havannah, Y and Kropki. Download it from my web page [ gorilla.html ].

Please Support Me

You may contact me, Dariusz Stachowski, at [ penguin@dashstofsk.f9.co.uk ].

I would like people to support me in my aim to develop the product further, so I would like to ask you to put forward any comments and suggestions you may have. Please don't hesitate. If you experience something you think might be a bug then do let me know. Likewise if there is some feature or enhancement that you feel would make a nice improvement.

All opinions will be welcomed.

[ The Game of Unlur ] [ The Game of Havannah ] [ The Game of Onyx ] [ The Game of Y ] [ The Game of Kropki ]

[ The GoRilla Editor ]